5 boxing shamans Question about Fire totems and Totem of WRath

[LancerX]

I have 5 shamans and they are level 60, I have been using totems of wrath because of the crit bonus I get from all of them stacking. Should I be using this? I know I see some people using Searing totems and was wandering if that is more dps? I just could not imagine that it is better to use searing then wrath but Id be open to suggestions. Thanks in advance.

[Ellay]

Totem of Wrath will be superior in PvE.

[Boom]

Totem of Wrath will be superior in PvE.Agreed... and with the new EM/NS nerf in 2.4, I'm wondering if ToW will become an option for Shaman Multiboxers at 70... Ellay, have you decided how this change will effect you?

Boom

[Vyndree]

Totem of Wrath is superior for caster groups and mana efficiency (through Clearcasting)

Searing Totem is superior for mobs that drop aggro (as they will aggro the searing totem directly after the aggro wipe as long as you don't dps, giving your tank time to pick it up), and typically for DPS if you're not grouped. However, since multiboxers are always grouped... ;)

[Ellay]

Agreed... and with the new EM/NS nerf in 2.4, I'm wondering if ToW will become an option for Shaman Multiboxers at 70... Ellay, have you decided how this change will effect you?
40/0/21 is still the preferred spec, on demand burst damage is the key to many fights.

[Dezeral]

I've also found that magma/searing are good choices for encounters where you have to move or heal a lot. They give you some constant DPS which added with shocks can tip the scales for you. Talon King Ikiss and Hungarfen are examples of fights where searing or magma totems can make the encounter a lot easier. The Ikiss encounter gets two benefits from searing/magma. First, I had to heal a lot on this fight and that cut into my DPS. The searing and or magma totem kept up some DPS when I was healing. Second, after Ikiss does his AE, he would run to a shaman who had just healed, but with searing down, he would run there giving me a few seconds to heal and pick him up with the paladin.

On a side note, as Vyndree stated, ToW makes a huge difference on mana consumption. I just respec'd for PVP on Sunday dropping ToW for NS and I ran Mechanaar and SL last night. I used considerably more mana than I did last week when I had ToW. There were lots of fights I would end at 80% or more mana with ToW where now I end with 20-40%. This means that I have to drink a lot more frequently. With ToW, I would rarely have to drink between pulls as water shield usually regenned all the used mana for a fight.

[LancerX]

Agreed... and with the new EM/NS nerf in 2.4, I'm wondering if ToW will become an option for Shaman Multiboxers at 70... Ellay, have you decided how this change will effect you?
40/0/21 is still the preferred spec, on demand burst damage is the key to many fights.

After seeing the patch notes about the slight nerf to NS on the next upcoming patch I think i'll try out Wrath totems in pvp arenas. Wit heroism you are looking at some pretty fast casts anyway and id like to have that extra 15% crit bonus allowing me to socket more +damage. Maybe this is not a good idea but ima try it and see how it works out.

[Boom]

Agreed... and with the new EM/NS nerf in 2.4, I'm wondering if ToW will become an option for Shaman Multiboxers at 70... Ellay, have you decided how this change will effect you?
40/0/21 is still the preferred spec, on demand burst damage is the key to many fights.

After seeing the patch notes about the slight nerf to NS on the next upcoming patch I think i'll try out Wrath totems in pvp arenas. Wit heroism you are looking at some pretty fast casts anyway and id like to have that extra 15% crit bonus allowing me to socket more +damage. Maybe this is not a good idea but ima try it and see how it works out.Be sure to let us know how that works for you...

Boom

[caffiend86]

Do multiple Totems of Wrath Stack? or do you just a 3% Crit bonus from the first one dropped?

[LancerX]

Do multiple Totems of Wrath Stack? or do you just a 3% Crit bonus from the first one dropped?

NO it stacks which gives all my level 60 shamans a 37% to crit and 16% cap on +hit with spells. Its totally insane in pve. Cant wait to try it in arenas. There are times when I get 4-5 LB's in row that crit and times when I have my toons heal me and all 4 shamans crit heal for 7k heal at level 60 hehe. Its very fun.

[Boylston]

I did a whole theorycrafting workup in MS Excel and a post (somewhere here on the forums) about ToW. The short story is:

* Nature's Swiftness, both before and after the EM+NS nerfs, is a very, very, very important skill for the 5v5 arena scene.
* Totem of Wrath is not awful in PvP, it DOES provide some extra DPS and longevity, the "resilience makes ToW useless" argument is largely invalid. NS wins for a variety of reasons, but not because ToW can't overcome resilience's benefits.
* Stacked ToWs are absolutely uber in PvE for both damage and longevity.

I think what remains to be seen is how competitive a ToW build can be in 5v5 for someone who wants to not respec back and forth for arenas. It's not going to be dismal, but it certainly won't match the capability of the 40/0/21 NS build.

[LancerX]

I did a whole theorycrafting workup in MS Excel and a post (somewhere here on the forums) about ToW. The short story is:

* Nature's Swiftness, both before and after the EM+NS nerfs, is a very, very, very important skill for the 5v5 arena scene.
* Totem of Wrath is not awful in PvP, it DOES provide some extra DPS and longevity, the "resilience makes ToW useless" argument is largely invalid. NS wins for a variety of reasons, but not because ToW can't overcome resilience's benefits.
* Stacked ToWs are absolutely uber in PvE for both damage and longevity.

I think what remains to be seen is how competitive a ToW build can be in 5v5 for someone who wants to not respec back and forth for arenas. It's not going to be dismal, but it certainly won't match the capability of the 40/0/21 NS build.

All things eqaul, You can easily argue that to counter resilience just stack crit. I see it done and seen it done pretty effective, it really comes down to micro management of ones toons. But that is neither here nor there. Thanks for your comments.